Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Is there a preventative fix for those pesky Remington bolt handles?

Jim,

If I recall correctly, the reinforcement was originally a 2-screw arrangement. A third screw was added along the way.

I think the one lower on the handle, was the third. The two on top were the original method.

I am curious if the bolts come apart on mostly new rifles?

Wanting to test my opinion that if a rifle has been used for awhile without a problem, that the welding is adequately field tested and therefore dependable?

Like so many stories you never get the Whole story.

It has been already stated that in most cases it was "Bolt Abuse"

Hey I was in the Army with a guy that could snap off lug nuts without any effort.

BTDT once on the lug nut............I've since learned that quite snug is alot better than too damn tight.

My wife can attest to that regarding capped bottles and such......grin

[Is there a preventative fix for those pesky Remington bolt handles?]

Yep - Weld it to a Mauser.





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They come off because the guy is beating on them with a hammer or 2x4 trying to chamber a round that was loaded for another rifle's chamber.

Stupid is as stupid does.

And Browning Safari Grades. Yep stuck with all of the above and I also don't have to worry about the fail on fire safeties either...jorge

I'll take any 700's you all no longer feel safe with.

BTW didn't Sako have some bad barrels? So I'm thinking there might be some people not 100% sure of those either.

Jorge-
When did you swap out your avatar? This one is so much nicer than that ugly guy in the other one!

Gotta give Savage some credit on bolt handle design. There's one that won't fall off. works like a wrench....

So, carrying this idea out further; therefore since other makes are more rarely prone - or never- to lose their bolt handles one can assume that those makes of rifles never get fired with over pressure loads, under-resized ammo or get their handles tapped?

The first time I saw a Rem 700 bolt minus the handle it happened to be on a very used and rusty (saltwater-boat gun) bolt. The only thing that rifle would have seen was factory ammo.

It is not a good attachment design. It simply happens to work well enough much of the time. And I'm sure it helps to keep the price down. It isn't my idea of what reliable should look like. Others who have done a similar thing seem to have had less failures. Still, I'll take a Ruger when I want a more reliable rifle. You can never have too much "reliable"; enough "accuracy" OTOH, is relatively easy.

DakotaDeer

and

Any questions?
dave

hey mm,

on the only savage cf that i ever owned, the screw holding the bolt on would back out to the point of falling off about every 8 action cycles...

this was 12-15 yrs back and i've been told that savage addressed the issue...

i addressed the issue with a drop of loc-tite and had no further problems....

on my rifle the screw in question was a slotted piece... i see an allen headed piece on todays rifles, but i haven't looked to try and determine whether the issue that i had was truly resolved....

i have range handled a few savages since the accu-trigger was introduced... no problems... and i liked the rifles.....

Dave thats a good looking rifle.

It kinda grows on ya.GAP camo in white gray and black.

and

dave

You guys have got me worried! 35 years of hunting with 700s and mine have never fallen off. Given that time frame they must be ready to let go anytime ----guess I'll go hunting today with my Savage for some peace of mind.

I had a 788 handle peel off. I was just working the action, no ammo being used. I bought it used but I don't think that any handloads were used in it, who knows.

My observation is that the braze holding the handle on was not done hot enough to form a good braze joint. A proper braze joint is at least as strong as the steel handle itself. The handle WILL bend before the braze joint will break. I would think that these problems are individual problems caused by something going wrong in manufacturing process.

Any handle brazed correctly will never give a problem. Reminds me of a piece of machinery that broke a steel weld and I brazed the two pieces together with an Oxy/ acetylene gas torch. I thought: "that will never hold, there is too much heat, too much vibration, and too much stress on that braze". That was 25 years ago. It never broke again.

If your really concerned the easy fix is a new one piece bolt from Pacific. Foolproof and a positive step to better accuracy. If you were going to have the action squared and the bolt pinned or welded the cost would be close. The peace of mind priceless.

Most of the failures I have heard of were neanderthals banging on the handle with rocks, 2x4s, hammers or you name it. The others were attributed to over zealous Swiss cheesing of the bolt.

I am considering bolt fix for my Model 70's just to be safe.

A gunsmith friend told me a lot of 788 bolts have come off due to poor QC with the brazing. My brother had it happen on his 788 years ago, sometime in the late 70's. He lives near Ilion so took it in the front door at Remington. They replaced the whole bolt while he waited. He's never had a problem since.

A word of warning to anyone who might want to get a bolt handle welded on: It can sometimes be done (best with a low heat input process like TIG or plasma) but you want someone welding it who understands things like pre-heat, post-heat, and the use of an appropriate filler rod. If the bolt handle was originally brazed on, you need to be sure that the bolt body and the bolt handle are of the same steel or at least of two steels that are compatible with regard to welding them together. Generally, in a production item like a rifle bolt with a brazed on handle, you could expect the bolt body to be a much higher carbon, higher alloy steel than the bolt handle. This is not an issue if you're brazing them together (and might be a reason they are brazed rather than assembled with a production welding process)but it can be a problem if you try to weld them.

"Dave thats a good looking rifle."